It's Easter Sunday morning
in Marksville, Louisiana. Many of the townspeople are attending
services at the various local churches. Meanwhile, Brent Scallan
and Mike Bordelon hurry to set up tables and chairs for registration
and a loud speaker system they will use in the big egg knocking
contest that will begin soon, after the church crowd arrives.
Brent will be the Master of Ceremonies, a capacity in which he
has served for the past thirteen years, since he was eighteen
years old. Mike, as his assistant, will be in charge of registration,
as well as helping to keep everyone organized, and checking eggs
at knocking time (to make sure that each contestant is using
only the three eggs he or she has had registered, stamped and
numbered). Years ago, Mike, now age forty five, was the announcer.
Now he leaves that task to Brent.

As the first few townspeople
begin to arrive and register their eggs, Brent and Mike are hurrying
to select the eggs they wish to enter in the contest. The Master
of Ceremonies and his assistant are not content to simply officiate—that's
only part of the fun. They would not think of not taking the
opportunity to knock eggs themselves. For months, they have been
collecting the hardest eggs they could find, in hopes that this
year they or one of their family members will be the winners.
Mike and Brent have both confessed to going through hundreds
of dozens. They have each selected fifteen or twenty dozen that
are boiled and dyed very carefully in preparation for this big
event. At this time, they are knocking most of the eggs they
have prepared in order to find the hardest ones of all and the
(hopefully) winning eggs that will enter the contest. In order
to "knock eggs" two people will agree to knock, then
one will hold a boiled egg with the small end up while the other
taps on it with the small en d of his egg. One egg will crack.
The person whose egg has cracked will then have to forfeit his
egg to the winner. This custom is carried out in several Cajun
communities throughout South Louisiana. In some areas the practice
is referred to as "Pacques Pacques", which simply means
"Easter Easter" in French, but is also a play on words
because the sound of an egg tapping on another egg makes a sound
like "poc"

On Easter morning in southwest Louisiana, a tradition in many French families is eggknocking. Family members knock eggs to see whose breaks first. In Marksville, there is a community competition where they have different competitions for chicken and guinea eggs. Guinea eggs (right) are smaller, but much harder than chicken eggs. Photo: Maida Owens.

The town of Marksville and
the neighboring town of Cottonport are unique in that they have
organized contests for egg knocking. Marksville was the pioneer
in establishing the formalized event in 1956. It was during the
term of office of Mayor Edgar Coco, at the mayor's suggestion,
that a city ordinance concerning the event was passed. In the
early 1970s, Cottonport followed suit and also organized a community-wide
contest. The citizens of Marksville are quick to point out that
they started it first, but Cottonport does lay claim to its own
unique customs surrounding egg knocking. For several weeks prior
to Easter Sunday various bars in Cottonport hold egg knocking
contests which involve some wagering on the hardest eggs. This
makes the contest rather exciting! The biggest pre-Easter Sunday
event is held on Saturday night at Scotty's Bar.

There are some differences
between Marksville and Cottonport's Easter Sunday contests. The
one in Marksville is quite a bit larger, requiring that groups
of people, paired off and lined up on the courthouse steps knock
at the same time. As one person in each pair is eliminated by
having all his or her eggs cracked they must step down and the
winner of each pair goes on to knock with someone else who still
has intact eggs. This continues until there is only one person
left from that entire group. The n another group is called to
line up on the steps. Finally the winners of each group are paired
off and out of that round will come the winner.

After the chicken egg category
is the guinea egg contest. Guinea eggs are quite a bit smaller
than chicken eggs and very hard. Guinea eggs are not available
in as such abundant supply as chicken eggs. This makes them highly
valued, selling for anywhere from $6.00 to $20.00 per dozen in
the Marksville/Cottonport area at Easter time. Not only do guineas
lay fewer eggs overall than chickens, but they only lay during
the spring. When Easter falls early in the spring, there are
fewer guinea eggs to be found—that is when they can be sold
for higher prices. Even when Easter comes later, getting those
hard little eggs is a challenge because guineas tend to hide
their nests and one has to walk through fields looking for them,
hidden under bushes or in tall grass. Also, fewer people keep
guinea hens than chickens. The tiny guinea eggs are so hard that
they make a much louder pock-pock sound than chicken eggs. They
also take longer to crack. During the guinea egg contest, there
is more intensity in the air—those eggs cost more to get and
the suspense of waiting for one egg to crack brings the excitement
up. There is definitely a payoff for the winners. In addition
to the prestige, cash prizes are donated by local civic organizations.
The first prize winner in each category is awarded $100.00. Each
second place contest winner takes home $50.00. $25.00 goes to
the third and fourth place winners.

Most people in Marksville
get their eggs, (both guinea and chicken), locally. If they do
not keep hens themselves, they have friends who do. However,
some people will go a little further from home to search for
the perfect eggs. Mike Bordelon, who does not raise his own hens,
works as a traveling salesman. His territory covers various parts
of central and North Louisiana, and he has the opportunity to
drive around in the rural areas of these regions in quest of
eggs. Many people have signs out advertising that they sell yard
eggs and Mike does not hesitate to stop. Egg knocking is not
a part of Easter tradition in North Louisiana and people there
may find Mike's enthusiasm for hard-shelled eggs a little unusual
at first. However, once Mike has clued them in on how much fun
the people in Marksville have at the contest, they are generally
quite eager to help him. Mike says he has made a number of friends
while on the road looking for eggs. As it is at home in Marksville,
the guinea eggs are harder to locate. Asked how he would know
who had guineas, Mike replied, "If I see a guinea on the
side of the road or in someone's yard, I just stop and ask."
Stopping and asking has been worthwhile—Mike's daughter-in-law
won the guinea egg category in 1989 with an egg he gotten for
her.

In Cottonport, the contest
is still small enough that each pair is called up to knock individually.
This is referred to as a "round-robin". The two towns
come together on Easter Sunday afternoon at the Marksville radio
station for the big "knock-off" which will determine
the grand champions in chicken and guinea eggs.

Prior to these organized
contests and today, in addition to the formalized events, egg
knocking or "pocking" occurs informally among groups
of family and friends. This custom has always been a lot of fun
and that is the purpose of the competition at the courthouse
as well. Some people do not actually register eggs in the contest,
but will knock with their family and friends, while they socialize.
When all the eggs are cracked on their small end, the children
usually continue with the game by knocking the "butts"
or the large ends. Then they knock the sides. If they have an
Easter egg hunt at home later, all the eggs will already be cracked
all over! Hiding eggs for the children to find is a relatively
new custom in Marksville, compared with knocking, and it is definitely
not the major event.

The preparations begin several
months in advance of Easter. Yard chickens lay fewer, but harder
eggs in the early spring compared with some other times of the
year, notably summer, when the eggs are abundant, but thin shelled.
Supermarket eggs are always less hard than the smaller, brown,
country eggs and the citizens of Marksville would not be caught
dead on the courthouse steps with anything but yard eggs. There
are certain breeds of chickens that are known to lay harder eggs.
However, regardless of the breed, the hardest eggs are produced
by well fed, active chickens. It is particularly important that
the hens get adequate calcium. Some people see to it that their
laying hens are fed bits of oyster shell as a calcium source;
others give their brood calcium supplements or commercial food
that has been fortified with vitamins and minerals.

The method generally used
by the serious knockers for finding those hard eggs is to lightly
tap them on their front teeth. According to Brent Scallan, the
harder eggs will make a light high pitched ping, while the softer
eggs will make a blunt, dull sound.

After several dozen hard
eggs are selected, they must be very carefully prepared for the
contest. They are boiled slowly, so that they will not jump around
and hit the sides of the pan or other eggs. Many people in Marksville
cushion the eggs by placing old rags on the bottom and sides
of the pan. According to Brent, the eggs must also be boiled
point down. This is to insure that the air pocket, something
found in all eggs, will not be at the small end. There must be
something solid behind the hard shell in order to keep it from
cracking quickly. One method for keeping the eggs point down
in the pan is to fill the pan, packing the eggs in so close together
that they cannot turn around. However, both Brent and Mike actually
boil their best eggs inside a cardboard carton. They will not
take any chances!

After the eggs are boiled,
they are dyed and decorated. Today, most families use commercial
egg dyes or bottled food coloring. However, the citizens of Marksville
and Cottonport recall the stories their parents and grandparents
have told of the days when eggs were colored with juice from
wildflowers, roots, berries, chimney soot, and coffee grounds.
The old-timers believed that boiling the eggs in coffee grounds
made them stronger. Some people still do it. As Judy Bordelon,
Mike's wife said, "We boil our best eggs in coffee grounds,
just in case. . . ."

The entire tradition of egg
knocking is something passed on by the old-timers. Mike and Brent
and many other people in Marksville and Cajun communities throughout
South Louisiana learned the tradition from their grandparents.
Easter was the favorite holiday of Mike's grandmother, and she
delighted in the sport of egg knocking. Brent also has fond recollections
of going to his grandparent's house to knock eggs on Easter Sunday.

Back at the courthouse square
in Marksville, more and more people arrive with baskets of eggs
in hand. A large group is gathered around the registration table.
Many of the people here were born and reared in Marksville, but
have moved away-to Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette, and some
out-of-state, but they make it back every year at Easter and
gravitate to the courthouse lawn for fun, socializing and of
course the contest. Groups of family and friends are talking,
laughing, catching up on the latest news, and knocking eggs.

When it is time to begin,
Brent calls out, "Last call to register your eggs."
Then starts the T-toddler contest for children under eight. Their
prizes will be baskets of Easter candy. A few adults are still
scrambling to get their eggs registered.

Brent calls out for numbers
one through forty to line up on the steps. Mike is checking the
eggs, making sure everyone is there, helping people find the
knocking partners. And the big moment is here! "Ready! Knock!"
Brent continues, reminding the contestants, "If all your
eggs are cracked, please step down. If your eggs are not cracked,
pair up with the next person in line and continue knocking. If
you are finished knocking, please move off the steps." Soon
there will be a winner, and a great, fun tradition continues
in Marksville.

This article first appeared
in the 1989 Louisiana Folklife Festival booklet. Dr. Sheri Lane Dunbar
received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Arizona.